Poetry will ring out at Lichfield Cathedral
Poetry in all its forms will ring out from Lichfield Cathedral this autumn as it hosts its first poetry festival.
The cathedral has just unveiled the programme for The Word and it includes some top names as well as a series of creative workshops for young and old.
Benjamin Zephaniah – best known for bringing Dub Poetry into British living rooms, will open the festival on Sunday November 24.
Michael Symmons Roberts, poet, novelist and librettist, who has just co-written a major new musical production about the Peterloo Massacre, will judge the Cathedral’s poetry competition and close the event after the prize-giving on Thursday, November 28.
Staffordshire poet laureate Emily Rose Galvin, a writer and performer, will run a creative workshop on the Moon Landing Anniversary theme exploring the Mythology of the Moon. Poetry slam champion and performance poet, Emma Purshouse will bring her unique slant on all things spoken in a special workshop plus there will be a pizza and poetry slam evening for younger people on Monday.
The Dean of Lichfield, the Very Revd Adrian Dorber, said: “This is an immensely exciting “first” for the cathedral. The moon landing in 1969 was a momentous year for mankind – that one small step opened us up to tremendous possibilities, of journeys to be made, and explorations to encounter."
The Cathedral is also calling for new poems to be submitted for a festival competition. The deadline in National Poetry Day on October 3.
Visit lichfield-cathedral.org/the-word/the-word-poetry-competition for more.
